Report of the Policy Working Group on the United Nations
and Terrorism

The Policy Working Group considered that
the United Nations should concentrate its direct role in counter-terrorism
on the areas in which the Organization has a comparative advantage.
In general terms, the United Nations should uphold, bolster and reassert
the leading principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter,
the core of which are undermined and threatened by terrorism. The
Organization's activities should be part of a tripartite strategy
supporting global efforts to:
(a) Dissuade disaffected groups from embracing terrorism;
(b) Deny groups or individuals the means to carry out acts
of terrorism;
(c) Sustain broad-based international cooperation in the struggle
against terrorism.

In efforts at dissuasion, the Organization
has made and ought to continue to make its contribution through
norm setting, human rights and communications. The United Nations
has a primary role in preparing for the adoption and effective implementation
of legal instruments. It should institute a periodic review of the
existing treaty regime, and must underscore the linkages between
instruments of international criminal law and counter-terrorism
conventions.

At the same time, the United Nations must ensure
that the protection of human rights is conceived as an essential concern.
Terrorism often thrives where human rights are violated, which adds
to the need to strengthen action to combat violations of human rights.
Terrorism itself should also be understood as an assault on basic
rights. In all cases, the fight against terrorism must be respectful
of international human rights obligations.

In its public pronouncements, the United Nations
should project a clear and principled message, underscoring the unacceptability
of terrorism, highlighting the Organization's role in addressing and
preventing it, and ensuring that the fight against terrorism does
not obscure the core work of the United Nations. These messages must
be targeted to key audiences - particularly to achieve a greater impact
in dissuading would-be supporters of terrorist acts. The work of the
Department of Public Information and the United Nations information
centres must be enhanced to this end.

The unique mandate of the Counter-Terrorism Committee
places it at the centre of United Nations activities to deny
opportunities for the commission of acts of terrorism. The United
Nations system as a whole must ensure its readiness to support the
Committee's efforts to achieve the implementation of measures to
counter terrorism. One specific area in which United Nations agencies
can provide assistance in this process is through the development
of model legislation for Member States' compliance with international
instruments and pertinent resolutions.

Given concerns that terrorists may seek access to
stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction or related technologies,
United Nations activities in the field of disarmament must gain renewed
relevance. In addition to reinforcing its work in this arena and to
enhancing its capacity to assist the Counter-Terrorism Committee,
when needed, the Department of Disarmament Affairs should draw public
attention to the threat posed by the potential use of weapons of mass
destruction in terrorist acts.

Preventive action, especially measures to strengthen
the capacity of States, can help to create inhospitable environments
for terrorism. This may be achieved through effective post-conflict
peace-building and by ensuring that peacekeeping mandates are sensitive
to issues related to terrorism.

In order to render international efforts to counter
terrorism effective, cooperation between the United Nations
and other international actors must be made more systematic, ensuring
an appropriate division of labour based on comparative advantage.
Specifically, the next high-level meeting between the United Nations
and regional organizations in 2003 should establish terrorism as
an agenda item, with the goal of developing an international action
plan.

Similarly, the United Nations family must ensure
a higher degree of internal coordination and coherence. This effort
will require periodic reviews by the Executive Committee on Peace
and Security of United Nations work on terrorism and even the strengthening
of some offices, notably the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention
of the United Nations Secretariat. The United Nations System Chief
Executives Board for Coordination should review system-wide activity
in order to ensure that coordination is taking place.